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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Constrained Sequence Alignment, Kyle Daling Dec 2017

Constrained Sequence Alignment, Kyle Daling

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Constrained Sequence Alignment: A new algorithm designed to help biologists produce better alignment for protein sequences.


Effect Of Bm-Hpme® Free Protein On Hbm-Mscs In Benchtop Bioreactor With Microcarriers, Adam Talbot Nov 2017

Effect Of Bm-Hpme® Free Protein On Hbm-Mscs In Benchtop Bioreactor With Microcarriers, Adam Talbot

Biology Posters

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapies have great potential for treating many age-related diseases. When harvested from human bone marrow (hBM), these cells are relatively scarce and thus is is necessary for the cells to be expanded to achieve the necessary numbers needed for any therapeutic application and for many research applications. In order for the potential of MSCs to be unlocked, a strategy must be developed to expand these cells in the most efficient and effective way possible. Here we present a method to expand MSCs in a benchtop bioreactor with microcarriers and quantify the effect of the addition of …


Identification Of Hydrated And Dehydrated Lipids And Protein Secondary Structures In Seeds Of Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum) Line, Diwas Kumar Silwal, Nsoki Phambu, Bharat Pokharel, Ahmad Naseer Aziz Aug 2017

Identification Of Hydrated And Dehydrated Lipids And Protein Secondary Structures In Seeds Of Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum) Line, Diwas Kumar Silwal, Nsoki Phambu, Bharat Pokharel, Ahmad Naseer Aziz

Chemistry Faculty Research

Cottonseeds from two parents (TM-1 and 3-79) and their 17 progeny (chromosomal substitution) lines were analyzed for various secondary structures of proteins and moisture content of lipids, separately in hulls and kernels. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used on mature seeds from Upland cotton (G. hirsutum) progeny lines and parents. Based on secondary structures of proteins and hydration levels of lipids, differences were observed among the cottonseeds. The two progeny lines – CS-B12sh and CS-B22sh retained lipid moisture content and protein secondary structures similar to both parents, while CS-B06, CS-B15sh and CS-B16 remained distinct from either parent. On the …


Testing The Independence Hypothesis Of Accepted Mutations For Pairs Of Adjacent Amino Acids In Protein Sequences, Jyotsna Ramanan, Peter Revesz Jul 2017

Testing The Independence Hypothesis Of Accepted Mutations For Pairs Of Adjacent Amino Acids In Protein Sequences, Jyotsna Ramanan, Peter Revesz

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Evolutionary studies usually assume that the genetic mutations are independent of each other. However, that does not imply that the observed mutations are independent of each other because it is possible that when a nucleotide is mutated, then it may be biologically beneficial if an adjacent nucleotide mutates too. With a number of decoded genes currently available in various genome libraries and online databases, it is now possible to have a large-scale computer-based study to test whether the independence assumption holds for pairs of adjacent amino acids. Hence the independence question also arises for pairs of adjacent amino acids within …


Protocols And Pitfalls In Obtaining Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins For Biophysical Studies Of Ligand-Protein And Protein-Protein Interactions, Qian Wang, Samar Rizk, Cédric Bernard, May Poh Lai, David Kam, Judith Storch, Ruth E. Stark May 2017

Protocols And Pitfalls In Obtaining Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins For Biophysical Studies Of Ligand-Protein And Protein-Protein Interactions, Qian Wang, Samar Rizk, Cédric Bernard, May Poh Lai, David Kam, Judith Storch, Ruth E. Stark

Publications and Research

Adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (AFABP: FABP4) is a member of the intracellular lipid-binding protein family that is thought to target long-chain fatty acids to nuclear receptors such as peroxisome proliferatoractivated receptor gamma (PPARγ), which in turn plays roles in insulin resistance and obesity. A molecular understanding of AFABP function requires robust isolation of the protein in liganded and free forms as well as characterization of its oligomerization state(s) under physiological conditions. We report development of a protocol to optimize the production of members of this protein family in pure form, including removal of their bound lipids by mixing with hydrophobically …


Evaluation Of Protein And Fiber From Distillers Grains Plus Solubles In Finishing Beef Cattle Diets, Zachary E. Carlson May 2017

Evaluation Of Protein And Fiber From Distillers Grains Plus Solubles In Finishing Beef Cattle Diets, Zachary E. Carlson

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Four studies were conducted to evaluate the components of distillers grains plus solubles in finishing beef cattle diets. Experiment 1 evaluated the effects of five composites of feedstuffs formulated to be similar in nutrient composition to DDGS on finishing performance of cattle. Experiment 2 evaluated isolating the protein from distillers grains using a feedstuff from the wet milling ethanol industry to determine the impacts of protein on the feeding value of WDGS in finishing performance of cattle. Experiments 3 and 4 evaluated the effects of protein from distillers grains with the diets used in Exp. 2 on site of digestion, …


Ticks Elicit Variable Fibrinogenolytic Activities Upon Feeding On Hosts With Different Immune Backgrounds, Ashish Vora, Vikas Taank, John F. Anderson, Durland Fish, Daniel E. Sonenshine, John D. Catravas, Hameeda Sultana, Girish Neelakanta Mar 2017

Ticks Elicit Variable Fibrinogenolytic Activities Upon Feeding On Hosts With Different Immune Backgrounds, Ashish Vora, Vikas Taank, John F. Anderson, Durland Fish, Daniel E. Sonenshine, John D. Catravas, Hameeda Sultana, Girish Neelakanta

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ticks secrete several anti-hemostatic factors in their saliva to suppress the host innate and acquired immune defenses against infestations. Using Ixodes scapularis ticks and age-matched mice purchased from two independent commercial vendors with two different immune backgrounds as a model, we show that ticks fed on immunodeficient animals demonstrate decreased fibrinogenolytic activity in comparison to ticks fed on immunocompetent animals. Reduced levels of D-dimer (fibrin degradation product) were evident in ticks fed on immunodeficient animals in comparison to ticks fed on immunocompetent animals. Increased engorgement weights were noted for ticks fed on immunodeficient animals in comparison to ticks fed on …


Growing Yeast For Livestock, Zachary Christman Jan 2017

Growing Yeast For Livestock, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Over 500,000 tons of organic materials such as food scraps are disposed of each year in Wisconsin. A large percentage of this material could be composted or turned into useful products. The purpose of this article is to educate farmers and organizations on how to turn food waste into a high value food source for livestock. Yeast can be grown at any time of the year without the large inputs of agricultural chemicals and machinery that is common with other feed production methods. A yeast growing facility can be scalable to any size the producer wants such as a small …


An Effective Computational Method Incorporating Multiple Secondary Structure Predictions In Topology Determination For Cryo-Em Images, Abhishek Biswas, Desh Ranjan, Mohammad Zubair, Stephanie Zeil, Kamal Al Nasr, Jing He Jan 2017

An Effective Computational Method Incorporating Multiple Secondary Structure Predictions In Topology Determination For Cryo-Em Images, Abhishek Biswas, Desh Ranjan, Mohammad Zubair, Stephanie Zeil, Kamal Al Nasr, Jing He

Computer Science Faculty Publications

A key idea in de novo modeling of a medium-resolution density image obtained from cryo-electron microscopy is to compute the optimal mapping between the secondary structure traces observed in the density image and those predicted on the protein sequence. When secondary structures are not determined precisely, either from the image or from the amino acid sequence of the protein, the computational problem becomes more complex. We present an efficient method that addresses the secondary structure placement problem in presence of multiple secondary structure predictions and computes the optimal mapping. We tested the method using 12 simulated images from alpha-proteins and …


Prediction Of Human Dietary Δ15N Intake From Standardized Food Records: Validity And Precision Of Single Meal And 24-H Diet Data, Frank Hülsemann, Karsten Koehler, Jürgen Wittsiepe, Michael Wilhelm, Annett Hilbig, Mathilde Kersting, Hans Braun, Ulrich Flenker, Wilhelm Schänzer Jan 2017

Prediction Of Human Dietary Δ15N Intake From Standardized Food Records: Validity And Precision Of Single Meal And 24-H Diet Data, Frank Hülsemann, Karsten Koehler, Jürgen Wittsiepe, Michael Wilhelm, Annett Hilbig, Mathilde Kersting, Hans Braun, Ulrich Flenker, Wilhelm Schänzer

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Natural stable isotope ratios (δ15N) of humans can be used for nutritional analyses and dietary reconstruction of modern and historic individuals and populations. Information about an individual’s metabolic state can be obtained by comparison of tissue and dietary δ15N. Different methods have been used to estimate dietary δ15N in the past; however, the validity of such predictions has not been compared to experimental values. For a total of 56 meals and 21 samples of 24-h diets, predicted and experimental δ15N values were compared. The δ15N values were predicted from self-recorded food intake …